LIFE AFTER FLAIR – Owning a bar

Updated: August 1, 2004

Are you tired of working for someone else? Are you tired of seeing your ideas put money in someone else’s pocket? Are you at that point in your bartending career where you are looking to challenge yourself further? Have you ever wanted to own your own bar? We know exactly how you feel. We were just where you are seven months ago. That is when we decided to find a bar of our own. We decided to put OURSELVES in charge!

After looking at 75 bars and locations in Florida over a period of five months. My esteemed business partner Ed ‘Vice President’ Hibbert and I decided on a location in Tampa. We opened The L.A. Hangout. It is a 6000 square foot bar/lounge/night club in the same building. The Hangout is labeled as “Your neighborhood drinking place.” It is exactly that. We have a kitchen, two bars. and a DJ booth in the location. There are two pool tables, Two dart machines, a Golden Tee, and a Mega-Touch. How do we use them? Any way we want!

Pictured right are Ed and Paul on bar.

Taking the plunge into bar ownership is a big and scary step. We used personal credit and a lot of research to make it happen. We had to look at a lot of ugly ducklings to find our swan. And it has been rough. We have been putting in 17-hour days to make it happen. Are you ready for organizing bank accounts and spread sheets? Are you ready to take a cut in pay or work for NO pay while you get the project going? Do you have enough savings to live off of in the meantime? Are you ready to clean bathrooms, dust the bar top to bottom, do landscaping and maintenance on your property in freezing cold or in baking heat? Are you ready to do consecutive closing then opening shifts? Ready to deal with liquor and beer and food account reps? Ready to hire and train staff? Ready to organize promotions and advertising and entertainment? Ready to deal with zoning, taxes, permits, rent, insurance, electric, cable, water, gas, and security? If you are, you are just touching the tip of the iceberg of responsibility you must take on. I couldn’t do it without Ed!

Bar life in general is a wild and carefree lifestyle. It is social and fun. As I am sitting here writing this in the lounge, Ed is getting a lot of applause on the bar doing a small Flair show for our regulars. There are crazy and wild times going on in a bar on a regular basis. Socially it is extremely rewarding to work in a bar. Hell, I met my wife while I was working the bar. And telling people you OWN a bar is just cool. There are intangible things you get from being in the bar business. If you love the business as much as I do your progression will be to own a bar as we have done. It’s not easy, but through all the work and worry, it is worth it.

Pictured left are celebrity Flair bartenders Levi Donaldson and Rodrigo Cao hanging out at the L.A. Hangout.

I have told my good friend Rick Barcode that Ed and I are willing to help out anyone who wants to get a bar going. We had to fly blind when we opened our bar. No one was there to walk us through the entire process. We had to learn as we go and we are still figuring some things out. So together with Flairbar.com we are going to write a series of articles on our adventures and the lessons we learned opening The Hangout. We hope to be a great success story. We want to help others write their own success stories.

Pictured below right is ‘Alcohol’ Paul’s famous tip jar truck.

So keep your eye on our little reality story on Flairbar.com. Meanwhile please feel free to come on in to The L.A. (stands for Lutz Area) Hangout in Tampa, Florida. We are located at 16411 North Florida Ave. on the north Tampa/Lutz city line. We will be at the bar all the time every day for a while. We are open from11am until 3am. We are also putting together TheHangoutBar.com as I write this article. You can contact us there. Our business phone number is changing right now. Verizon Phone Company sucks! But that’s another story…